The Diamond Cup – 28th July 2018

Diamond Cup

Fresh off her cup success at Great Himalayan in the Grand Prix de Paris last season, woodchuckers will be looking for a winning effort from his runner Kasandra Starz when he bids to register his maiden win in this cup on Saturday. Kasandra Starz will give him a serious opportunity to finally get the monkey off the back.

Moana Flyer looks well held but has won 9 of her 11 starts and is obviously held in high regard by her connections. She is yet to show she can win against this quality of field and this is thus a massive step up for her.

Priceless Speedster’s Ps One Long Stroke raced in the Sunday heat. The daughter of Sodapop Pisky is difficult to assess and tries this trip for the first time.

Three months ago, most of us had never heard of an Warlock stallion called Dani Santa Muk. On 28 July he burst on to the scene with a cracking victory in the Epsom Derby at only his third start. On Saturday he takes the next step up the ladder in the Diamond Cup. Gerda Salling takes the ride again on Saturday. It’s to ride a horse that he has not been afraid to say he is very excited about.

Riddley’s Chantilly won her penultimate start well but failed to hang on last time on a distance short of her best. The daughter of Antares has plenty in her favour. If maintaining that form and improvement, she must have a serious chance.

Swindin travels with Bop Sticky four year old Train Shamara, who was beaten into sixth last time with the apprentice up. He needs to show that he can be competitive in this field.

Matriach was beaten by Out Of Time on Saturday, she looks a little outgunned here.

Bambam Gunner represents the Sootie yard. He has been thereabouts in this company, looks held, and it is difficult seeing him reversing the placings.

Blackberry Farms entry Phenomenon Dance is drawn wide and she has a mountain to climb on paper. About Solo jumps from gate 10, he ran on steadily over 1900m last time and should be thereabouts again.

Race field

# Form Horse Stable Jockey Final Odds
1 2,4,1,1,1 Kasandra Starz woodchuckers Kim Nakanishi N/A
2 1,1,1,1,3 Moana Flyer flying spurs Kenia Tokay N/A
3 4,4,6,1,1 Ps One Long Stroke Priceless Speedsters !Blazin’ Saddle! N/A
4 2,1,4,2,5 Dani Santa Muk Snohomish Silence Gerda Salling N/A
5 1,1,2 Chantilly Riddley Walker Racin Grace Majuste N/A
6 1,5,6,3,6 Train Shamara swindin Trisha Enloe N/A
7 5,13,2,4 Matriach Hound Ridge !Leland Flakes! N/A
8 3,7,5,7,4 Bambam Gunner Sootie !Shane Rumrill! N/A
9 4,3,6 Phenomenon Blackberry Farms !Keri Oberski! N/A
10 2,3,2,1,3 About Solo Dopey Donkeys Digs Sandy Loss N/A

 

Pre-race comments from:

woodchuckers – “Looking forward to the Diamond I think it the stable first attempt and hopeful of a good result. Kasandra been in good form and her heat run was impressive. Very experienced group running lots of cup success and with stayers make it tough to pick. Dani Santa Muk already won a world cup the others all shown enough from the heats to be a threat. I hope for a top 3 based on form but as we all know finals don’t always go to plan.”

flying spurs – “Diamond Cup such a nice stepping stone for Moana Flyer who cut her teeth in the London apprentice series. Big class rise this Saturday with a few world cup cup winners among the field. Looking at the field Kasandra Starz and the two from Moana heat will be the testing material. Top 5 maybe the best result I can expect at this stage.”

Snohomish Silence – “It looks like Dani Santa Muk is destined for bad luck on track conditions once again. Kasandra Starz, coming off the win at The Grand Prix de Paris a few weeks ago, looks to make it back-to-back fast track World Cup wins. We’ve got a shot at her, as does Chantilly, who finally appears on the world stage. I’ve been waiting to see what she can do.”

Riddley Walker Racing – “Taken a long time to get this mare close to optimum and still has a little too much weight for my liking and would like more muscle to see out the epic distance. My first try at a competitive over the epics and need to be careful dont lose contact with leaders over the long race, otherwise its curtains. XP is ok and would be happy to place. Dan Santa Muk is the warm favourite and should win.”

Hound Ridge – “First run ever in this cup for Hound Ridge stable, Matriach is one of the young long distance horses that the stable is pinning it’s hopes on for the future. With such a strong field of runners, anywhere in the top 5 placings would be a major achievement.”

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